Posters Accepted at 2017 Orlando Dermatology and Aesthetic Clinical (ODAC) and Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education (SACME) Conferences
Bethesda, MD (PRWEB) January 12, 2017 -- CME Outfitters (CMEO), a leading accredited provider in continuing medical education, is excited to present findings from two outcomes studies at national conferences. The first study includes outcomes data from two activities on psoriasis that incorporated online medical simulation, and the second study presents findings from an analysis of outcomes data in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) using PredictCME, CMEO’s exclusive predictive modeling offering.
At the 2017 Orlando Dermatology and Aesthetic Clinical (ODAC) conference in January, CMEO will demonstrate its success in educating dermatologists using an innovative and engaging format via online medical simulation. “Research has shown gaps among dermatologists in best practices for screening patients with psoriasis for comorbidities and psoriatic arthritis,” said Jan Perez, CHCP, managing partner at CMEO. “We identified practice gaps in the treatment of psoriasis in alignment with treatment guidelines. Education is key to narrowing or eliminating those gaps, but not all education is effective,” she said. In order to make education more engaging and match real-life experiences with clinical decision-making, CMEO incorporated online medical simulations in two activities geared toward assisting clinicians in achieving best practices related to screening for comorbidities in psoriasis (e.g., psoriatic arthritis, cardiovascular disorders) as well as counseling and treating patients with psoriasis. The simulations consisted of online, narrative, competency-based, branch-logic patient simulations featuring media elements such as video clips and links to resources. The simulations assisted in educating dermatologists on two key issues: Medication simulation 1 – screening for psoriatic arthritis and cardiovascular risk factors in patients with psoriasis; Medical simulation 2 – implementing treatment according to treatment guidelines. Participants were required to make decisions at key steps/branches in the activity, and they received feedback on their choices at each step. Assessment of improvements in knowledge, confidence, and performance were sent to participants 3 months following the activity, as well as to a group of matched nonparticipant controls. Over 2900 clinicians participated in the activity, representing nearly 33,000 patients with psoriasis. After 3 months, participants significantly outperformed controls on questions related to knowledge and practice behavior (p < .05). “Dermatologists and other healthcare providers learned about best practices for screening, treatment, and counseling, resulting in more frequent screening for psoriatic arthritis, compared to matched controls,” said Perez. “The online medical simulation provided a safe and effective environment for healthcare providers [HCPs] to improve their clinical decision-making methods.” To view a PDF of the poster for this meeting, click here.
The second poster will be presented at the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education (SACME) conference in May. This promises to be a unique presentation, focusing on PredictCME, CMEO’s latest offering for adding value and dimension to its outcomes studies. “Traditional statistical comparisons of pre- versus post-activity performance are important for demonstrating performance improvement,” said Jamie Reiter, PhD, Director of Educational Outcomes at CMEO. “However, they do not provide information regarding the factors that influence practice behaviors, which will help guide needs assessments for future activities and ensure the appropriate topics, formats, questions, and audiences are targeted.” PredictCME is based on a form of predictive modeling, known as CHAID (chi-square automatic interaction detection). It is often used in data mining, but CMEO is the first provider to use it in medical education. PredictCME has advantages over linear and logistic regression, including the ability to incorporate both continuous and categorical data, as well as tree-based output, which enables visual and more user-friendly interpretation of results. In this particular study, outcomes data from 262 HCPs participating in an educational activity on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) were analyzed using PredictCME. A question related to practice behavior was entered into the model as the response variable, with variables such as knowledge, number of patients seen with AD, years in practice, and confidence entered as predictor variables. Results showed that the strongest predictor of practice behavior was confidence, with a secondary predictor being the number of patients with AD seen by the learners. “These findings demonstrate not only the innovative approach to applying PredictCME to medical education,” explained Reiter, “but also in demonstrating its value for better understanding the influences of practice behavior, which in turn will help maximize the impact of future activities, and ultimately patient outcomes.”
About CME Outfitters, LLC
CME Outfitters develops and distributes live, recorded and web-based, outcomes- and evidence-based educational activities to thousands of clinicians each year and offers expert accreditation and outcome services for non-accredited organizations. CME Outfitters focuses on delivering education to specialty audiences, with strong expertise in neuroscience, inflammatory, infectious, and autoimmune diseases, and cardiovascular disease. For a complete list of certified activities and more information, visit http://www.cmeoutfitters.com or call 877.CME.PROS (877.263.7767).
“CME Outfitters …
Improving Clinical Behavior … One Change at a Time”
Anna Larkin, CME Outfitters LLC, 614-328-4529, [email protected]
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